The ball is in Trump’s courtroom, and he appears severe about attaining peace – however there’s loads of work forward
By Larry Johnson, political analyst and commentator, former CIA analyst and member of the US State Division’s Workplace for Counterterrorism
US President Donald Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner have met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Kremlin in Moscow. The roughly five-hour session centered on a revised US peace proposal geared toward ending Russia’s almost four-year battle in Ukraine.
This marked Witkoff’s sixth assembly with Putin in 2025 and Kushner’s first in-person involvement in these talks. The US delegation arrived immediately from current negotiations with Ukrainian officers in Miami and Paris, the place the peace plan was refined from 28 to 19 factors.
The media is reporting that the core agenda was the up to date US peace framework, which emphasizes:
- A possible ceasefire and de facto border recognition, probably involving Ukrainian concessions within the Donbass area to satisfy Russia’s territorial calls for.
- Safety ensures for Ukraine, coordinated with European allies like France.
- Broader steps for implementation, together with front-line changes and restrictions on Ukraine’s army capabilities.
Putin reportedly agreed with some components of the proposal however reiterated Russia’s non-negotiable positions, together with full management over its new territories and limits on NATO growth. The US facet pushed for Putin to melt these calls for in alternate for ending hostilities, however no new wording or provisions have been finalized.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov described the talks as “useful” and famous productive exchanges on substantive points, however emphasised that “no compromise plan has been found yet” and “a lot of work remains.” Russian state media and envoy Dmitriev known as the session “productive,” however there have been no agreements on particular concessions, a ceasefire timeline, or a follow-up summit between Putin and Trump (probably slated for April–June 2026).
So what was the true goal of this assembly? Chatting with reporters in Bishkek, within the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan final Thursday, Putin defined how negotiations can be dealt with. Throughout that press convention, Putin mentioned that Overseas Minister Sergey Lavrov is answerable for dealing with contacts and negotiations on attainable phrases to finish the battle in Ukraine, and that he depends on Lavrov’s stories from these talks whereas avoiding public dialogue of particular proposals. In his newest feedback round US-Russia contacts on Ukraine, Putin indicated that the negotiation course of is being performed via skilled channels, explicitly pointing to Lavrov and the Overseas Ministry as these main the work on attainable peace preparations. He pressured that he’s commonly briefed by Lavrov on these discussions, together with on US-drafted peace concepts that Moscow says draw closely on earlier Russian proposals.
Whereas Putin was assembly with Witkoff and Kushner, Lavrov held heat bilateral talks with China’s Overseas Minister Wang Yi. Lavrov’s absence from the Witkoff/Kushner assembly was a transparent sign from Russia that the muse for precise negotiations was nonetheless not in place. Putin’s objective was to elucidate – politely and firmly – what Russia’s basic positions are with respect to settling the battle in Ukraine. I’m sure that he introduced, once more, the identical factors he laid out on June 14, 2024.
The ball is now in Trump’s courtroom. Witkoff and Kushner’s preliminary plan to satisfy on Wednesday with Zelensky in Eire was cancelled. They returned as a substitute on to Washington, the place they briefed Trump on Putin’s agency circumstances that should be agreed to earlier than the precise negotiations – with Lavrov and Rubio sitting down, accompanied by their respective delegations – can start. The truth that, thus far, there have been no leaks to the press concerning the assembly with Putin tells me that Trump is severe about making an attempt to get negotiations with Russia on monitor.
This assembly will not be the start of the top… quite, I believe it marks the top of the start. It’s as much as Trump to conform to Russia’s phrases and dispatch Rubio to make the cope with Lavrov.
